I think the more realistic way that episode should've ended is that Dusty (which is the nickname I am henceforth giving Lightning Dust) got suspended or disciplined, not just outright thrown out. I mean, lets put it in a list of points which go in Dusty's favour (marked with a + ) and those against her (Those with a - ):+ Firstly, she was only REALLY a newbie, and so one should, even in a pony army, have somewhat more lee-way.+ She was only doing what she had been ordered to do.+ She had a great deal of potential.- Admittedly, she was more reckless than is good, but as said earlier, she is in fact, a newbie, and was probably out to impress her superiors.- She did endanger the lives of civilians with her tornado+ However, those civilians really should not have been there during training in the first place. That's like taking a walk through a shooting range during live ammo fire practice, and that was therefore events beyond her control.+ It was her first offence, and considering the potential she showed, it seems harsh to toss her aside so quickly.- She did endanger the lives of her fellow recruits, however, again, she was trying to impress, and at the end of the day, none of them were actually seriously injured.

Perspective is indeed hard, Rai. Relating to that, the areas that kinda bug me are RD and LD's contrails. Perhaps it's partly because of how they're so stylized, but they seem to be coming out of their bodies rather than trailing behind them. Other than that, though, it's a good piece and I love the way you created lighting effects with the sun in the background.

Yes, I think you did an excelent job with the perspective and lighting here, although I'd say the hooves look a bit too... geometric and flat with the circular outline there... I think maybe if you did a bit of work with shading and implied line in those areas you might have been able to get that to look a tad more effective. otherwise, an excelent piece! Better than I can do, that's for certain!

I really liked Lightning Dust at first, but as she showed her true colors I liked her a bit less; she was reckless and didn't think about anypony else's safety. Like others have been saying, yeah, I can see Lightning Dust as a Gilda 2.0. Back to your work, nicely done by the way! I like Lightning Dust's trail, but it can't touch how awesome Rainbow Dash's trail is!

You did a wonderful job on their bodies, shape and coloring. Everything looks great. I especially love their faces.

At first though I looked at the other pony and thought this was a Spitfire/Dash pic. Till I realized that the light blueish/green color was fur, not suit. As the original wonderbolt suit covered almost the entire body except for mane, tail and muzzle. Having not seen the episode I did not know who it was till I read below.

The only thing I did not like about the picture was the jet streams behind them. The direction they are going just does not fit right. It looks like a 90 degree angle. While Dash has made 90 angles with her rainbow jet stream before. I just did not think you meant for that. Then again you busted this out pretty fast and what you produced was great.

Now I just have to hold out for a couple more days and watch it with my friends instead of sneaking an early peek.